Pompey strengthened their grasp on automatic promotion with a 3-1 victory over Yeovil.

Gareth Evans opened the scoring from the spot, as the Blues finally managed to break their penalty curse.

But an unfortunate own-goal drew the Glovers level after the break and threatened to spoil the party.

Top scorer Kal Naismith restored the advantage, however, and Jamal Lowe came off the bench to net his first goal for the club.

Paul Cook made two changes from the side that won at Hartlepool the previous week.

Lowe dropped to the bench to make way for a fit-again Carl Baker, while Gary Roberts replaced the injured Noel Hunt.

That meant Naismith was employed as a makeshift striker – a role he performed so effectively in the second half at Victoria Park.

Pompey made a bright start in the south coast sunshine and Bevis Mugabi had to be alert to beat Roberts to Evans’ cross.

But it was Yeovil who should have forged ahead moments later, with an unmarked Tom Eaves sending Kevin Dawson’s cross over the bar.

It was generally the hosts looking more threatening, however, and a dangerous low Roberts centre had to be cleared behind by Alex Lacey.

Then, from the resulting corner, Matt Clarke rose highest to meet the ball, only for Liam Shephard to clear from the line.

But the Blues did break the deadlock on 15 minutes – and finally bring an end to their penalty hoodoo.

Roberts did well to nip in and steal the ball from the dithering Mugabi, drawing a clumsy challenge from the centre-back.

Referee Graham Horwood immediately pointed to the spot and EVANS coolly steered his shot into the bottom corner.

They kept pushing forward and Artur Krysiak denied Naismith before Roberts’ cross hit the hapless Mugabi and ricocheted against the inside of the post.

Pompey continued to send some dangerous deliveries into the box that caused the Glovers defence problems.

There was also one at the other end, however, and Mugabi should at least have turned Matty Dolan’s corner on target from just a few yards out.

Half Time: Pompey 1 Yeovil 0

HIGHLIGHTS

Second Half

Pompey were keen to build on their narrow advantage once the second half got underway, with Naismith and Kyle Bennett proving a nuisance down the left.

Roberts then found Naismith in the box and a glancing header from the hosts’ top scorer was superbly palmed clear by Krysiak.

Instead, the Glovers drew level in bizarre circumstances on 51 minutes. Francois Zoko, Clarke and Stevens were all competing for the ball and the latter two conspired to inadvertently lob it into their own net.

That was the signal for the Blues to camp out in their opponents’ half, with the visitors having to deal with several corners.

Evans and Bennett also had shots blocked, as Pompey – backed by a noisy crowd – tried to restore their advantage.

Stevens then tried to catch Krysiak out at his near post with a low drive, as the Glovers struggled to contain their hosts.

Cook made his first change on 67 minutes, as Conor Chaplin replaced Roberts to give the strikeforce a more conventional look.

But it was the stand-in who fired the Blues back into the lead just seconds later, as Stevens teed-up NAISMITH and Krysiak could not get a strong enough hand to the Scotsman’s shot.

Yeovil boss Darren Way quickly brought on Otis Khan and his effort flew narrowly over the bar, rippling the top of the net in the process.

Baker then made way for Lowe and within two minutes of his introduction, the January signing opened his account for the club.

It was a decent individual effort from LOWE, who bundled his way past a challenge before finding the net from the tightest of angles.

That ensured Pompey could see the game out relatively free of nerves and take another stride towards a place in League One.

A bit late putting this out there but on the 20th March the first rumours of a proposed takeover at Portsmouth surfaced. The following statement was issued by the PST.

The PST board are aware that an article in ‘The News’ today will create significant interest.

A club such as OURS, with its incredible fan base, is bound to attract interest from possible buyers, and it is our duty to listen to any serious and credible offer for the football club.

If there is a serious and credible offer, our shareholders will decide the outcome.

The 3 PST Directors of Portsmouth Community Football Club will be fully involved in discussions. We understand how much owning your club means and retaining an ownership stake will be central to any discussions we enter in to.

We are in the process of finding a date for a shareholders meeting which will give you an opportunity to hear more information on any prospective bid to purchase the club, and a full opportunity to air your views.

A date for this meeting will be communicated in due course.

Later this was followed up by an official statement from Portmouth Football Club

Since the club’s exit from administration in 2013, the board of directors and staff have worked tirelessly to restore our fans’ faith in the club and – as club custodians – have continually striven to improve both on and off-field performance.

A cornerstone of this work has been our openness and transparency with shareholders and supporters alike, while at the same time also respecting the confidentiality and commercial sensitivity of business agreements and contracts.

We would like to assure all shareholders and supporters that we have a robust process in place to deal with any potential offers of investment.

If we reach a point where such an offer of investment into the club is made, then ultimately it will be for all our shareholders – of which the PST is the single largest – to decide whether such new investment would be in the club’s best interest.

We believe this to be the true definition of a fan-owned club, allowing those supporters who have invested to have the final say on the future direction of the club.

We will make no further comment at this stage and assure all fans that, as always, we continue to work in the best interests of Portsmouth Football Club.

Which basically told us nothing.

Many an article has surfaced since then relating to Mr Michael Eisner and he appears on the surface to be the real deal. Unlike previous potential owners who have had many skeletons in their closets this guy seems whiter than white having been CEO of both Disney and Paramount during his career. The man is also insanely rich. The stories soon moved beyond rumours to facts including three tweets from Mr Eisner himself relating to the club.

It remains to be seen whether a deal will be done but in my opinion the club needs it to progress. The “fan owned” idea is great and can only take us so far. Some believe we can stay fan owned and make the Premier League, I believe that is impossible and an opinion backed up by most realists and those with proper knowledge of the club. Attendances of 16000+ give us a good basis but with no outside income it limits us to mid-table League One. In addition Fratton Park is falling down and there is a real possibility of parts of it closing in years to come.

My small share stake will give me a vote, my understanding is that 75% of the vote is required to allow a sale to go through, the PST hold a stake of approx 48% which gived them the power of veto.

On March 23rd the Club issued the following statement announcing a period of “exclusivity” meaning we will not negotiate a sale with anyone else in the meantime.

Portsmouth Community Football Club would like to advise all shareholders and supporters that it has entered into an Exclusivity Agreement with Michael D. Eisner and his Tornante Group to allow for a period of discussions and negotiations to take place regarding a possible purchase of the club.

The agreement is simply to ensure that during this period, which will be 70 days, the club will not engage in discussions with any other potential bidder and is standard practice in these situations.

We thought it best to explain this in a Q&A format, that we hope our fans will find useful:

Q: Is this a done deal then?

A: No, it is not. Put simply, this now enables the club to exclusively enter into a period of negotiation and due diligence with Mr Eisner and his Tornante Group to establish the detailed terms he proposes.

Q: Due diligence – what does that entail?

A: Mr Eisner and Tornante will be reviewing our business and financial information, and equally we will be checking out their own respective financial and business credentials.

Q: What form will the negotiations take?

A: The Board and Mr Eisner will look to negotiate the terms of what would effectively be the best and final offer they wish to make for the club; at which point we will advise all shareholders – both Presidents and those with the PST – on the terms of the offer. Shareholders will then be asked by the club and the PST to vote to either accept or reject the offer.

Q: Who will be leading the negotiations?

A: The Board have retained Trevor Birch to advise them during the negotiating process and he will liaise with all of the stakeholders in the club. Trevor is a managing director of global corporate advisory firm Duff and Phelps, and has unique experience of dealing not only with potential investors at a variety of clubs, but also possesses an insight specifically into PCFC, its community ethos and intricacies of the current fan ownership model.

Q: Will there be an opportunity for Mr Eisner to explain in person his vision and plans for the club’s future to shareholders?

A: Yes, the intention would be for Mr Eisner to explain his future strategy and plans for the club to all shareholders.As all our supporters are aware, on the pitch we now enter the final, crucial phase of the season.

We can assure all fans that in the background we will now discreetly and privately engage in this next stage of discussions, while our focus will remain on supporting the football staff and players until the end of the season.

The next few weeks will probably be rife with rumours and opinions (often stated as facts) but little will be made public.

Pompey brought their fine away form back to Fratton Park with a rout of Grimsby under the floodlights.

There was a touch of fortune about the first two goals, with Kyle Bennett and Danny Rose both benefiting from wicked deflections.

But it was more than luck that saw the Blues strengthen their promotion credentials, as they put their foot on the accelerator.

The points were secured with a couple more strikes either side of the interval, as first Carl Baker and then Kal Naismith got in on the fun.

Paul Cook stuck with the same side that cruised to victory against Colchester at the weekend.

And he was almost rewarded with an early goal, as Baker flashed a shot narrowly over the bar soon after kick-off.

But it was Grimsby who looked more dangerous in the opening stages and Akwasi Asante saw a shot deflected narrowly wide following an untimely slip by Matt Clarke.

They went even closer moments later, with Zak Mills’ fierce long-range drive cannoning against the post.

And David Forde was soon called into action to push another decent attempt by Asante over the crossbar.

But the Blues scored against the run of play on 12 minutes, as BENNETT tried his luck from the edge of the box and the ball took a huge deflection to loop over Mariners keeper James McKeown and into the net.

From that point on the hosts dominated and Eoin Doyle could not quite connect with Gareth Evans’ dangerous low delivery.

A back-pedalling Naismith then got on the end of another Evans cross and watched as his header flew inches past the post.

The advantage was doubled on 35 minutes, however, when Bennett dummied Evans’ pass and ROSE hit a shot that took another deflection to beat McKeown.

Pompey kept pouring forward and when Baker slipped a fine ball through to Naismith, the winger’s cut-back was diverted just behind the onrushing Eoin Doyle.

There was a blow for the Blues just before the break, though, as Bennett went down injured and had to be replaced by Gary Roberts.

But the mood soon picked up and there was a third goal in stoppage-time, with BAKER collecting Evans’ pass and beating McKeown at his near post with a ferocious finish.

Half Time

Portsmouth 3

Grimsby Town 0

And it got even better for the hosts just 30 seconds after the restart when McKeown failed to hold Baker’s drive and NAISMITH slotted home the loose ball.

Pompey’s players were full of confidence and lining up to shoot against a stunned opposition defence, but the next effort from Baker ended up high in the Fratton End.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, some of the intensity went out of their performance as the half progressed.

Evans hit a clean shot on target just past the hour mark, but this time the ball was safely held by McKeown.

Pompey were dealt another injury blow on 68 minutes when Naismith signalled to come off after hurting his hamstring, with Jamal Lowe replacing him.

That failed to dampen the hosts’ dominance, though, and McKeown dived to his left to beat away Baker’s 25-yard drive.

Lowe then whipped in a cross from the right that was just behind Eoin Doyle and the on-loan striker could only head wide.

There was a jovial feel inside the stadium, with the Fratton End asking for a song from each stand – who duly obliged.

And the Blues saw out the closing stages in complete comfort to secure a third successive victory, with a third successive clean sheet.

Pompey missed a chance to climb into the automatic promotion places after conceding a late equaliser against Morecambe.

It was the hosts showing all the ambition, although their dominance was receiving no reward as the Shrimps held firm.

But Kal Naismith came off the bench to break the deadlock after the interval and the points looked to have been secured.

Lee Molyneux spoiled the party, however, with a leveller to stop the Blues overhauling defeated Carlisle.

Paul Cook unsurprisingly stuck with the same side that beat their promotion rivals at the weekend.

And they immediately set about trying to attack their opponents, who were prepared to sit back and soak up the pressure.

The Blues were passing the ball around with style and were only let down by some wayward finishing.

But Morecambe were also indebted to their goalkeeper Barry Roche, who tipped over a Carl Baker shot before using his feet to deny Gary Roberts.

Roberts was dictating play in the middle of the park and played an exquisite pass through to Eoin Doyle, only for Alex Whitmore to come across and make a fine challenge.

There was not too much action at the other end of the pitch, although Christian Burgess headed off the line before referee Stephen Martin finally spotted his assistant flagging for a foul on David Forde.

It was soon the Blues back on the attack and when another fine Roberts pass released Gareth Evans, it took another Roche save to keep the scores level.

Kyle Bennett then sent a couple of long-range efforts narrowly off target, while Eoin Doyle headed over from a Baker cross.

But Morecambe almost forged ahead completely against the run of play on 32 minutes, with Forde doing brilliantly to stop Aaron Wildig from converting Paul Mullin’s cut-back.

Normality resumed for the rest of the half, but despite Pompey’s dominance, they couldn’t find a way through.

Half Time

Portsmouth 0

Morecambe 0

Paul Merson was introduced to the crowd at half-time ahead of his induction into the club’s Hall of Fame.

And Roberts was certainly trying to match the former Blues star in the creativity stakes, with a low cross just about grabbed by Roche before it could reach Eoin Doyle.

But the second half was lacking the excitement of the first and Cook tried to liven things up with a substitution on 56 minutes, replacing Baker with Conor Chaplin.

Bennett and Roberts combined well as the hosts tried to find a breakthrough, although the latter’s ball was not quite right for Eoin Doyle.

Cook’s second switch saw Naismith replace Bennett on the left – and it paid instant dividends.

NAISMITH controlled Michael Doyle’s pass with his first touch and then, with his second, steered the ball into the bottom corner from 25 yards.

The Blues continued to attack and Chaplin sent a snap-shot wide before Roberts saw his effort saved after being teed-up by Naismith.

But the game was drifting towards a conclusion, until Morecambe suddenly found themselves level on 83 minutes when the ball was worked across to Molyneux, who drove home a precise finish.

Pompey tried to hit back and the award of six additional minutes provided some hope that a winner could arrive.

But the Shrimps somehow survived a corner that ricocheted around their box to depart with a share of the spoils.